Reawakening
by Lady Ano
Summary: This is the story of Kirstie. She works with the Autobots and fights the Decepticons... But it wasn't always that way. Past friends come back as enemies. She forms a special bond with Barricade, but will her new ally Iron Hide allow this? BarricadeXOC.
1. Chapter 1

Sorry for the boring first chapter; I need to set up what is going on. =] Revised July, 2011. Also, I can't fix the format-sorry for no indentations!

Chapter 1

"Why can't I just have your old car?" Kirstie complained to her father as they drove down the freeway. She had just turned eighteen and her father was taking her to get a new car. Normally a kid of her age would be ecstatic for a new car, but not under these circumstances. Her friend, Jack, was tagging along in the back seat. She gave him a glance through the rear view mirror; he looked smug as they drove down the road. His dark hair was draped into his chestnut eyes as they made eye contact through the small reflective mirror. Since she had crashed her last car in an accident a few weeks ago, he had given her shit for it ever since. Kristie rolled her eyes and looked strait down the road. She had a petite frame and was short; just a few inches over five feet. She swept her dark brown side bands out of her eyes as she threw her dad a side look as he grinned from his place in the drivers seat. He sighed and he shook the same colored hair out of his eyes.

"The Mustang stays mine. Besides, we're getting you a new car because you totaled your _brand new Corvette_." He stated like it was the most horrible thing in the world. "Do you have any idea how much that custom paint cost me? You deserve to get a normal car like the rest of the population." To say Kirstie was pissed would have been an understatement. Her parents were wealthy and wouldn't get her a brand new Saleen like she wanted just because they were angry she had crashed her Corvette. So what? It wasn't like they couldn't just buy her five new ones without any problem.

She wasn't a snobby rich girl either; the crash hadn't been her fault anyways. It's not everyday you swerve into a light post to avoid an idiot biker. Her parents should be happy she was alive… She sighed. She knew she was going to get some piece of crap car so her parents could teach her a lesson. That is why she wasn't a stuck up bitch; her parents made sure she had morals.

After another ten minutes they arrived at some random discount car joint. She stepped out and noticed the cheap cars scattered around the lot.

"I'm going to go inside and find some help; take a sweep of the place." Her dad winked. Jack decided to go with Kirstie's father to score some brownie points with the rich man. Kirstie walked off. She looked at some cars that looked like they were just a year or so old. They were all over thirty grand and she knew her parents would want her to spend under fifteen.

After half an hour of looking at pieces of scrap junk one could call a car she decided this place had nothing for her.

"I found a cool car. Come look at it," Jack urged.

Before her there was a black truck. Her father showed some interest and the man explained it was a GMC Topkick.

"How 'bout a truck, hun?" Her father, Brad, asked. Kirstie laughed. Jack just smiled, proud of having found this car in the lot.

"I'm a girl. Maybe if it were hot pink." She joked.

"No really, come take a look at it." Jack urged. Kirstie decided to. It was in decent condition and was pretty nice. Nice interior and a good engine. There were two large silver exhaust pipes on coming up from the top right and left corners of the bed. She thought that was an interesting touch. She walked around it and stopped when she got to the back. There was a strange embossing on it. She ran her fingers over it. It was a face of some kind. She just looked at it for a second.

'What is it?" Jack asked, going to the back with her.

"Nothing," Kirstie said, snapping out of the trance. "I just had really bad deja-vu. This symbol is familiar somehow." The man opened the door and put the keys in, bringing it to life.

"How much?" Asked her dad. Kirstie wasn't a fool; this car was practically brand new. When the salesman said it was 50 grand, she saw her dad laugh with a hell no.

"Care to test drive it?" The salesman asked. Kirstie just nodded and got into the drivers seat, ignoring her dad. She could make him cave; she was his little girl.

A few hours later Kirstie lay in bed. Her mind was still racing over the fact that she, one of the richest and most popular girls in town had just bought a black truck. Even though it was expensive and nice, she knew it was that car or a piece of crap. That symbol was engraved into her head. She just knew she had seen it before. She sighed and rolled over. She hated the rich, pretty girl mask she had on. Everyone thought of her as the girly-girl, who always wore make-up and low-cut spaghetti straps. If someone really got to know her they would see she was just a regular person. She was a tomboy as a child and had grown up with her Barbie disguise because her parents wanted her to. If she had a choice she would rather be horse back riding or wrestling with a male friend from childhood. That friend was Jack. He was the only one who knew about her double life.

"I'll see you tonight. I'll be gone late, Chantal inviter me over to her house." Kirstie told her mom as she walked out the door.

"Ok, take care hun!" she called. Kirstie got into her truck and closed the door. It was a comfortable drive but she just knew when she got to school they would all be making fun of her.

"What's wrong, daddy not love you anymore?" One jock jeered. Kirstie flipped them off.

"No, I'm just going off roading today." She lied. "And decided to test drive it to school. Are you kidding me? I wouldn't be caught dead in this piece of sh-Hello Mr. Gentry." She said politely. And that was how the day went. Thank God it was Friday; she would have the weekend to persuade her dad to let her drive the Mustang to school on Monday. That day, though, had been hell. She had faked sick and went home right after school, not going to Chantal's house for manicures.

The weekend had gone by with no sympathy from her dad, and people were getting used to her driving the truck to school. The week flew by with homework, hanging with friends, and studying. It was a full week later on Saturday morning, and she had to admit she really did like the truck. It was also this Saturday morning that Kirstie would be in for the biggest surprise of her life.

"Damn!" She yelled as she dropped a CD under her seat as she was driving home from breakfast with a friend. She wanted to listen to it and she decided to pick it up from under the seat. When the coast seemed clear on either side and no cars were coming, she ducked her head under and kept her left hand on the wheel. She used her right hand to reach for it; but she had to feel around for it on the ground. Her left hand jerked to the right side and the truck unexpectedly swerved right into the right lane over. It was a small road each way with a 55 speed limit. Kirstie let out a small yelp as she tried to sit up. But out of the corner of her right eye she saw the blur of a car and knew hitting it was inevitable... Or was it?

The wheel spun left in her hand. She hadn't moved it; it just went left, correcting the car's movement and placing it back into the original lane. She let go of it and pushed herself upright. She sat in the seat, both her arms in her lap and her feet off the pedals. The break screeched and she sat there, wide eyes. The car regained control and began to drive itself. She took the wheel and placed her foot back onto the pedal. She grabbed her cell phone and called her best friend, Jack. He would listen to her. She dialed the number and when he answered she was in hysterics.

"MY CAR JUST SAVED MY LIFE!" She screamed into the phone. There was silence on the other line.

"What?" He asked, but you could hear a sort of slyness in his voice.

"Listen, meet me at the old workout center on Cimmaron Road." She said, calming herself. When she finally got to the old beaten road she drove towards the 'ghetto' part of town. Her truck, being an off road vehicle, easily absorbed the shock from the bumpy ground. She drove through the old abandoned lot and strait into the building. It was a one-story building that was as tall as a two-story, and made of just concrete. There was a large hole in the side where two huge wooden doors were opened up. It was at least thirty feet high and wide. It used to be a fabulous, high-roofed spa; now it was a dump for drug dealers. The doors were wide open as she spied Jack within. He was sitting on the hood of his yellow Camaro. He took pride in the car. It was nice and even had slick, black racing stripes. Kirstie drove up and stopped her car about thirsty feet from his. The car's hoods were facing each other. Kirstie jumped out of the car and quickly ran to the doors. She heaved the doors closed. She then jogged back to Jack and threw her arms around him in a desperate embrace.

"My car…" She began. "It… Like…" She was lost for words. She realized how dumb she sounded, and wondered if she had imagined it. He just smiled and returned the hug.

"Did it drive for itself?" He asked knowingly. Kirstie looked up into his dark eyes and nodded. He smiled.

"What I'm about to tell you is a secret that only a few people know. And you are going to call me crazy at first, but I've got proof to back up what I'm about to tell you. Are you ready?" he asked. Kirstie let go of the hug and stood back and looked at Jack, ready for some heavy information. He signed and leaned back against the front of his Camaro.

"You, Kirstie, are one of the humans that work with these robots called Transformers. No-let me finish, and don't speak until I do." He said when Kirstie tried to interrupt. "Ready for the over-simplification? There is you, me, and a couple of others. Two years ago, just a month or so after you turned sixteen, we got into this whole mess. The reason you recognized the symbol on the back of your car is because you have seen it before, many times. It is the Autobot symbol. You are one of the humans who works with Autobots, aka the good guys. Decepticons are bad… Remember that. It could save your life." He began to pace in front of Kirstie, trying to explain this to her. "We were fighting against the Decepticons and you were… killed." Kirstie stood there, stunned. "You were revived by a piece of equipment the Autobots developed. But, along with that, your mind was wiped of everything involving the Transformers. So your car there is one of the Autobots. His name is Ironhide. He is our weapon specialist. Oh, the reason he looks like a car and not his robot self is because he can transform himself into a car. Hence the name 'Transformer.'" He finished, taking in a huge breath. To Kirstie, he looked like an idiot spitting out information from a comic book so fast she couldn't even keep up. Kirstie just stood there a moment and then began to laugh.

"Are you kidding me?" She said in disbelief she choked on her words. "You expect me to believe my car is some kind of advanced alien robot technology?" He smiled.

"No. But I do think you will believe me in a second." He smirked even wider. Kirstie slit her eyes at him.

"My car is Bumblebee… He is my, guardian, if you will. Ironhide is yours." He said. "Bumblebee how about you go next to Ironhide and we'll show Kirstie something cool?" he said. 'Bumblebee' turned itself on and drove around next to Ironhide, a ways away from it. Kirstie was shocked that the car had just turned on and drove itself. She backed up into Jack, who kept walking her back until they were a ways away from the two cars.

"Ok, Ironhide, Bumblebee, transform." He said, holding on to Kirstie so she couldn't run or move. There was a moment of silence and then the cars began to move. Kirstie was amazed.

Both of them jerked and rattled and began to… grow. Various parts shifted on them and they seemed to move their parts around until they stood up in a shape resembling a human. Her car, Ironhide, she noticed, had the very front of the car, the bumper, for a chest. She just stood there in awe, fear, and admiration. She didn't try to run, but just stood there, gaping.

"It's very good to see you again, Kirstie." The Topkick car spoke in a deep voice. It was a bit… metallic in a way, almost lie it was being said through a computer. She turned to Jack.

"It can talk!" She screeched in a very high voice. He laughed and patted her back as she stood on her own, looking up at the two robots before her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After a few hours of Jack talking and explaining, Kirstie decided she understood somewhat what was going on. She sat next to Jack and the two bots sat opposite them. Bumblebee looked from Jack to Kirstie then asked her in his robot voice,

'So you really don't remember," he spread his arms out in reference to himself and Ironhide, "this?" he finished. Kirstie just shook her head no.

"It's coming back to me… But not specifically. I think if I had seen two huge transforming… things, I would remember." She responded with a humorous smile. Jack nodded.

"Well you recognized our symbol so hopefully in a few weeks time you'll remember enough to be useful to us again. Ironhide, is Prime on his way?" Kirstie remembered the name from their discussion. They had explained every robot and what they looked like. All she knew about this "Optimus Prime" was that he was a truck with flames, and their leader. All the other names and explanations were difficult to remember, and blurred together.

"Yes. He will be arriving with the rest of the Autobots shortly." Ironhide responded. He then looked to Kirstie. "Well, it is very good to see you again. I knew you for quite a while, and we got to be pretty good friends. None of us took it well when you died. It is very good to see you back with us." He said, and Kirstie racked her brain to remember something. Anything… Instead, she got nothing. She just nodded and smiled.

"If you remember something bad about some of the Autobots, it's normal. Some of them were Decepticons and have since come to our side. One of these would be Barricade. He's a Saleen. He's painted like a police car, though. The others you won't have to worry about for right now. But today you will see Barricade." Jack told her. Again, not knowing what to say, she just nodded. This was overwhelming her. When Jack had asked if she wanted to know about the 'dying thing,' as he had put it, she had declined. She couldn't handle something like that right now.

After another hour of bonding and talking to the robots she found them to her liking. Once over the initial shock she decided they weren't so bad under all that metal. Oh, and they were smart. Very smart.

Jack looked at her and leaned in to whisper into her ear.

"Ya know, Ironhide is really just a big weapon… He's a hard headed military ass hole. You're the only one who makes him this… cuddly." He laughed a bit. "He was horrible when you were gone. He always wants to kill something. You'll get used to it." Jack leaned out and gave a small stretch. Kirstie couldn't help but laugh a bit at what he had just said. Ironhide was defiantly larger in height and bulk than bumblebee, and had huge cannons mounted on his arms. But the way he spoke to her made him seem not the killing type. But she took his word for it.

The two wooden doors were blasted open by the front of a large truck. Kirstie stood up as the other three did. The truck with flames turned to the right and stopped. Behind him came a Hummer with search and rescue painted all over it. Behind that was a Saleen police car. And lastly was a silver Pontiac Solstice. The cars lined up and transformed just as Bumblebee and Ironhide had. She decided that would never get old. Cars standing up into huge robots… It freaked her out a bit. On her right end was the Pontiac. It was defiantly shorter than the others. To her left of him was the Police car. She decided he looked scary. This must be one of the Decepticons that had gone to their side… What was his name? Ah, Barricade. He was more than scary; he was terrifying. Left of him was the search and rescue hummer-thing. She smiled at the name she had for him. She had no clue what his name was. Smack in the middle, in all his glory, was Optimus Prime.

He was larger than any of the others and certainty looked the grandest. The flames were painted all over him and he looked exotic in a way. The four approached them. They all were looking at Kirstie with interest. Optimus was first to speak.

"I am Optimus Prime," he said, and Kirstie nodded. He gestured to comrades. "This I Ratchet. He is our medical expert. This is Barricade, and on the end is Jazz." He finished. He looked to Kirstie. "It is good to see you again. Do you remember us?" He asked. She shook her head no.

"Unfortunately, I do not." She said, trying to sound somewhat proper in front of their leader. It was Prime's turn to shake his head.

"Hopefully you will. I see you have met Bumblebee and your guardian, Ironhide." He said.

"Yes," was her simple response.

"Very well. Autobots, let's get back to base." Optimus said.

"Are we going somewhere?" She asked. He nodded.

"You will need to live with us now," He said. Kirstie was worried about that.

"But my parents…" She trailed.

"We'll go to them first. You can grab some belongings. You will have to make up a story that will last a while." He told her. In a flurry they all transformer back into cars. Ironhide drove up to her and opened his door. She climbed the huge height into the passenger side and sat there very uncomfortable. She was all too aware she was sitting in a sentient creature.

"Thanks for saving me earlier. I was too freaked out to tell you that before now." She told her car as she sat at a red light. The radio turned on and switched a few channels until it got to a clear one. She could hear his voice.

"No problem," was his only response.

"He's small," She stated at Jazz infront of them. Ironhide laughed at this.

"Don't call him out on his height, he hates that."

"Ah, I see," She said with a bit of humor in her voice.

"So where are we going anyways?" She asked.

"Well, Jazz and I are instructed to drive by your house and get you situated there. Then we'll head to the east of the city. On the outskirts one of our team has a large estate with a very nice house for you and a garage for us cars." He joked. Kirstie again didn't see how Ironhide could be a killing machine. He was so humorous with her. Their personalities meshed.

"And Jazz knows where I live?" She asked.

"We all do." He said. They drove in silence the rest of the way home.

Once they pulled up to her house, Kirstie got out, nearly eating it on the concrete from the huge step. High heels were not easy to leap off platforms with. Jazz kept driving and parallel parked a few houses down to not look suspicious. Kirstie took the key out of her car and put it in the pocket of her skinny jeans. She took a breath before closing and door and walking towards her house. Time to work my magic on them, she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

(Switched to 1st person from now on… Maybe)

I walked into the house quickly and expected my mom and dad to be angry. They were.

"Where have you been!" my mom screeched.

"I was at Lucy's house!" I hollered back. I then calmed myself, realizing that yelling would just make this worse.

"You are not leaving this house until I figure out where you really were," she snarled like an angry dog. I gulped.

"Um, about that…" I muttered. "Our school is doing a Hawaii vacation. It's a couple of weeks long and I'm already signed up for it." I lied, trying to sound excited. My mom eyed me. I went to a private, richy-rich kid school which always had lavish events; something like this was not out of reality.

"Which island?" She asked. _Think!_ I screamed in my head.

"Oahu," I said. She nodded. "I normally would say no, but you do know that is where I went for my high school trip…" She muttered and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Ok, you can go." She said, sounding delighted. My parents are complete fucking idiots… I thought in my head. Throwing a few grand so I could leave was something they hadn't thought about for more than twenty seconds, and they were letting me go.

"Thanks!" I said and hugged her. "But don't call me or the school. You know they hate nagging parents. I'll call you in a few days time." I then ran upstairs to shower and grab some belongings in a bag.

When I finally came outside I was shocked to see Ironhide and Jazz missing. But parked where Jazz used to be was Ratchet, the search and rescue Hummer. I walked over and threw my stuff in the back seat. I then climbed into the passenger seat and he began to drive.

"Took you long enough…" he muttered. I smiled.

"Had a hard time convincing my mom I was going to be working with huge alien robots." He made a noise that sounded like an outraged yell, but I quickly laughed and explained the story I had used. He grumbled.

"Good. If you had told your mom I would have kicked you out of this car…" he trailed off. I smiled and patted his dash. I felt very comfortable with them. I was slowly realizing that I had worked with them in the past. It was weird though, knowing that you _died_ and were back to life, with a couple years of chunks missing from your life. Maybe that's why I look older than I am?

After a while we reached the makeshift base. It was a few miles out of town. It was in a small abandoned area about one square mile. It had a bunch of trashed and dilapidated buildings. They could transform and walk around the area without getting noticed. It was also so far from the city you could barely see the tips of the buildings; the road leading here stopped, and it was hard to drive on.

As we drove into a large open building resembling where I first met the Autobots, I noticed Ironhide and Jazz sitting lying around, in a sleeping state. _He left me to sleep_, I thought unhappily. Ratchet stopped and opened my door. I stepped out and walked back a bit, watching him transform. I smiled. _That still never gets old!_ I though to myself.

"Food?" Jack asked, approaching me with a bag of McDonalds. I made a grossed out face but took it.

"Tomorrow will you take me to Ruby's?" I asked.

"Uh, we'll see…" he murmured, biting into a hamburger.

After a while Ironhide woke up and come over to us as well. He looked at the chicken nuggets I was eating.

"What is that, and what are you putting on it?" he asked as I dipped it in Ketchup and took a small bite. After I swallowed I tried to explain what ketchup was and how the nugget used to be a bird to no avail. Jack and I were sitting next to each other. He was on my right and our backs against the wall facing the door.

"If you guys have been here a few years, how do you not know what this is?" I asked, completely confused.

"We worked with your human military up until a few months ago; we were in hangers and doing missions. It's not like we got to hang out much," Ironhide responded.

"Why are you guys hanging out with kids then?" I inquired, looking suspicious. Ironhide sat down to my left, leanings his back against the wall and putting his legs out strait in front of him.

"While we got the job done, we blew a lot of shit up. After a few hundred thousand dollars of damage, they decided they don't want our… services anymore, "he stated, very matter-of-fact. "As long as we don't screw up anything too bad, we get to enjoy some time relaxing." I probable looked incredible small next to him. Jack got up and took my food outside to find a trash. I sat there next to Ironhide, just playing with my long brown hair. I looked up at him and I saw he was looking down at me intently, studying me.

"So," He began, "What do you remember from before?" I told him nothing really and we began to talk about some random topics.

"Get on," he instructed as he placed his hand near me. "You need to get used to being thrown around," he laughed at his own joke. I let out a small oh and he gave a small chuckle. I hesitantly stepped on his hand. I sat down cross-legged and grabbed his thumb for support as he raised me up to his eye level. His hand was longer than me, and one of his 'eyes' was probable the size of my hand. I smiled at him.

"Hello," I said.

"You still haven't grown any," he smirked. "Still a small little human."

"Hey, maybe I'm normal sized and you're just freakishly large!" I snapped back. He laughed and brought up his other hand. He used his pointed finger to mess up my hair.

"Stop that!" I said through laughter as he brought it onto my stomach to tickle me. I was sprawled out on his hand, on my back, yelling for mercy as his large robot finger pinned to me his hand. Neither of us noticed Jazz standing to our left.

"Stop torturing poor Kirst!" he exclaimed. Ironhide stopped tickling me and I curled up into a little ball in his hand, still laughing.

"She deserved it," he scoffed, "she called me freakishly large." Jazz laughed.

"You are," he commented before offering me his hand. I then sat in Jazz's hand, looking up at him. I was about the size of his hand, if not a bit bigger… I felt like I was going to fall off.

"You're small compared to the others," I told him. Jazz tried to look hurt.

"Hah! See? I may be freakishly large, but you're puny," Ironhide said.

"Hey, calm down children," Bumblebee said as he walked over. I was then grabbed from Jazz's hand and I stared up into Bumblebee's optics.

"Does this happen a lot?" I asked Jack, who had returned and was looking up at us form his height of six foot four. I made the mistake of peering over Bumblebee's hand and seeing a fifteen-foot drop. I'm not afraid of heights, but I am of falling. I immediately sat down on Bumblebee's hand and grading his fingers for support. He laughed and shook his head.

"Yes, especially to you," Jack said, now cracking up at my reaction.

It was a few hours later, and I sat near Barricade at the moment. I was listening to him tell me the story of why he became an Autobot. He used to be a Decepticon but wasn't killed in some huge battle, and ended up helping Bumblebee out. He earned Prime's trust and now he had been an Autobot for a few years. When he had finished he told me of the other two Decepticons who had become Autobots. They were Bonecrusher and Blackout. Blackout, he told me, was silver and had helicopter blades on his back. His alt mode was a chopper. Bonecrusher took on the alt of a mining car, with a huge fork in front of it. He said when Bonecrusher went into his regular robot battle mode he would have regular feet or use wheels to skate around… I

"There's the other ex-cons," Barricade said as a miner car entered the room. I knew it was Bonecrusher from the description. He changed into his robot form and nodded to us. When he eyes came onto me he headed over. He introduced himself and I introduced myself. He told me a few stories about me while we waited for Blackout to get here.

"What's holding him up?" I asked after about ten minutes.

"Restricted air space," Bonecrusher told me. "He had to fly all the way around so not to get into more trouble," he said with a bit of a laugh to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Later that day dinner time rolled around, and Jack and I decided to grab some chow. Bumblebee offered to drive, and Ironhide seemed a bit agitated I had accepted. From what I had heard it took a huge toll on Hide to learn of my death and he hadn't been the same since. Optimus had told me that he "only wants to keep an eye on you and make sure history doesn't repeat itself." After having a nice meal we headed back to our makeshift base. Jack had seen a Radio shack and wanted to go inside for a new stereo. I agreed grudgingly.

As we walked inside the store we parted and I went to look for a new portable CD player. I had an iPod video but it died so quickly that I had reserved it for playing only music videos. Despite having access to all forms of expensive iPods, etc., I was an old-fashioned CD girl.

"That's unique…" I mumbled as I ran my fingers over the small player. It was very small, just an inch or so larger than a CD. It was very portable and easy. It had a few buttons on the front panel. The "play/pause," "stop," "fast forward/rewind," and an "on/off" button. There was a small hole for headphones. I decided I liked the small silver thing and I took it to the front because there were no boxes under the shelf it was on that I could buy.

"Excuse me, but I can't find the model this is." I told an employee and I handed it over. She examined it for a minute.

"We don't carry this exact model, but this exact one is sold in France…" She mumbled and typed in a few things on the computer.

"Tell you what, hun. I'll sell it to you for the price they sell it for in US dollars. My manager isn't here and I could use some extra money…" I nodded and she put it in a Radio Shack bag and placed it on the counter.  
"Three hundred even. It's a bit under that, but that should cover tax and everything." She told me with a smile. I knew she was lying… It was probably less than one hundred. I sighed and handed over the cash.

Jack and I left the store in high spirits. He hopped in Bumblebee and he began to drive us home. I was sitting in the passenger seat when Jack suddenly yelled at me.

"Duck!" Thinking the worst was happening, like a Decepticon attack, I unbuckled my seatbelt and crouched down so I wasn't visible. After a minute or two he told me to get up.

"What happened!" I shouted at him, angry he hadn't filled me in on what had just occurred. He looked sideways at me and smiled.

"Your mom was in the lane next to us. If she had seen you she would have gone berserk." I sighed. False alarm… I thought, now relived.

We had arrived home with no other excitement, and I was glad for it. It was getting to be close to ten and I was a bit sleepy. Everything that had happened over the last few days was catching up to me. There was a small facility a couple hundred feet from the large building that housed the bots that we used as bedrooms. There were only a few rooms, though. The front we used as a living room, and two random back rooms were our bedrooms. We each had our own, both of which were fairly large. Large enough, in fact, to hold a king size bed, a desk, and some other random furniture and trinkets.

Jack and I set our stuff down in our rooms before going to the bots. We had decided to christen the large room "The Hang," which had obviously been a name provided by Jazz. As we walked into The Hang we were greeted by various nods and hellos from the bots.

"I didn't realize we were so popular with them," I whispered. He laughed.

"You get to like them." He told me. Jack was leading me towards the three ex-Decepticons. They were a bit secluded in their own group of three. I heard Barricade whisper to Bonecrusher and Blackout as we approached.

"This should be interesting. I wonder if she remembers us…" I shook it off. He obviously meant he wondered if I might remember them having joined the Autobots, which I decidedly had not.

"I'll leave you to it," Jack said, clasping a hand on my shoulder and leaving me with the three terrifying mechs. For some reason they scared me a bit. Probable just because I knew their background… I told myself. I planted myself between Blackout and Barricade. Even though they were sitting the trio still towered over me.  
"Hello Ano," Bonecrusher was the first to talk. "That's what we like to call you." What the hell? I thought…  
"Hi," I said somewhat cautiously. Crusher seemed to pick up on this and worked around his words carefully.  
"We're not going to hurt you, you know," he said. I tried to put confidence into my voice.  
"Oh, I know. Just still getting used to the whole giant-robot thing." He gave a small chuckle.  
"That's understandable." He said. A small pause drew out before Blackout turned to me.  
"I don't think we've been introduced. My designation is Blackout," The chopper said. I nodded simply. "So," he continued, "you don't remember anything at all about us?" I furrowed my brow a bit at his sentence. I knew he was talking about more than just the Autobots in general. Especially the way he fluctuated his voice when he said 'us.' It sounded like he was referring to only the three around me. I couldn't figure out what he was picking at. I shook me head no. He mimicked a human's long 'hmmm' noise, which made me smile. They've already picked up on a lot of human mannerisms, I though to myself. I could tell from what little I knew of Bonecrusher that he didn't talk much. I wondered if I should address him. Before I got the chance to Barricade was unloading a barrage of questions on me. Things varying from basic human knowledge to the specifics of mathematics that ended up going way over my head. I could tell that he was trying to read me somehow. It made me nervous. Especially his eye-optics. Especially those red, menacing optics…

After a few long, tedious hours of talking to them I finally got up and left to join my crew. Almost immediately after I got up they began to talk about me behind my back. I was a few steps away from them when I noticed Optimus coming over. After a few more steps what Bonecrusher said about me made me stop and turn on my heel to yell at them.  
"Wow, she really has changed… Now she's just an ugly insect human who needs to be terminated with the other scum on this planet." I began to storm towards them, and they stared at me quizzically.

"Forgot something, hun?" Bonecrusher asked. I made a scoffing noise at him.

"Don't you 'hun' me after what you just said about me! What is wrong with you!" I yelled, my voice rising in anger. He stared at me blankly.

"Said about wha-" at that time Optimus reached us and he quickly silenced Crusher with a look.

"What's going on here?" he drilled. I turned towards him.

"This robot just called me 'ugly human scum that needs to be terminated!'" I all but yelled at Prime. He turned towards Bonecrusher, who stared with a look I couldn't read. It was between shock, fear, and… smugness?

"I did not say that, sir, but I did say something in Cybertronian…" He said. Prime looked from me to Bonecrusher. Optimus finally turned to me and crouched down to my height.

"Do you know that only the Decepticons can speak Cybertronian, and that the only reason Bonecrusher, Blackout, and Barricade know it is because their loyalties used to lie there?" he asked. I simply shook my head no. Prime stood up and offered his hand to me. I climbed on it and he took me outside.

"When you lost your memory, you lost all memory of Transformers… this includes your involvement with the Decepticons." I looked at him, confused.

"What?" I blurted. He sighed. He sat down with his back against the wall of a building, and he brought the hand I was in up to his face so I could look at him in the optics.

"About four years ago you discovered the Decepticons and joined them. You were their one and only human and you aided them greatly in many matters that they couldn't get into. You could go on the streets unnoticed. Since you were just a child, you were naïve enough to go along with it. For two years you were with them until the Autobots fought against them. In that battle the three you were talking to joined me. And you, having been treated to poorly by Megatron, pledged your loyalty to the Autobots."

"Megatron?" I asked. The name was so familiar, but I just couldn't pin point where it was from. It seemed to have a bad way about it, though.

"The Decepticon leader," Optimus explained. "We thought we had terminated the Decepticon threat but we were wrong. Starscream, his second in command, survived and went back to Cybertron for reinforcements. He was able to regroup and we think he may have found Megatron's body and has been able to bring him back."  
"So… I was a Decepticon?" I asked. I was hurt. I couldn't believe I could fight these Autobots. I hadn't known them long and they were like a family to me. I guess it explained why I understood what Bonecrusher had said, though.

"What is in the past is in the past." Optimus said. He then brought me back inside and I was quickly cheered up by Jazz's antics and the group of Autobots. I found, though, as time went on I began to have two separate groups. I had the ex-cons, who would tell me stories in Cybertronian about the Decepticons and what I did when I was one of them. They swore to me they were trustworthy, but I was still cautious about them. My other group was the Autobots, whom I was loyal to at all times.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I found as the days went on who I could and couldn't trust from the ex-cons. Barricade and Blackout became good friends of mine, and I could tell that both were loyal to Optimus. Bonecrusher made me nervous, though. After I discovered I could talk in Cybertronian and had once been a Decepticon myself, he seemed to want to talk to me alone and in our 'secret' language. I could tell he was wary about his position and my mind began to wander to thoughts about him being a spy for Megatron. Not possible, I kept telling myself. He said he was destroyed in their last battle… Optimus Prime thought the Decepticons could be regrouping, though, and thus we all trained. Luckily I had done a lot of sports and my body was up to par with what they seemed to want. Ironhide would always personally instruct me, and push me to my limits.

I began to make a habit of avoiding Bonecrusher, and if he was around me making sure another Transformer was with me. I found Blackout and Barricade very menacing looking, but both of them were actually quite nice in ways once you go to know them. They always had an edge to them, from their past, but after I seemed to break down their initial walls I found them interesting to talk to.

And my CD player was incredible. The clearest sound I had heard. Barricade had asked to see it and inspected it from every angle, but nothing seemed to turn up and he gave it back to me. As all good things come to an end, though, so did this. Ratchet had tweaked a few electronics of mine before, because he had such an advanced knowledge of fixing things. You have to when you're the medic of a race of thirty-foot robot shape-shifters.

"Ratchet, can you fix this for me?" I asked, placing the player into his hand. It looked like a tiny disk in his hand because it was so small. He brought it up to his face and squinted at it.

"What's wrong with it?" he inquired, flipping it over.

"It's stopped playing and it keeps making this weird whining noise when I start it up." I grumbled. What a waste of three hundred bucks…  
"I think it's too small for me to fix. You're very smart; you take a look at it." He dropped it back into my hand, and I sighed and set it on the ground. I ran quickly outside to my room to fetch a few tools. When I came back I lay on my belly before it and I turned it over. I used a screwdriver to open the battery panel. Nothing wrong there… I opened it up until a mess of wires and cords were presented to me. I groaned as I examined it. I poked around a bit with the driver, using it as a probe, and found nothing wrong. Ratchet mumbled something to me about some electric current so I decided to find a major cord and play with that. After twenty minutes of producing sparks and having a bit of fun I gave up on fixing it.

"I'm fed up…" I grunted to ratchet. I suddenly got an idea and I smirked. "I'll just take it apart!" In school I was always great at mathematics and electronics. I don't think I was a gorgeous model, but people told me I was attractive. They didn't expect a girl like me to sit in the lab sometimes at lunch and play with chemicals and such. Thinking of school caused me to groan. Next week school starts! Well that was a nice week off for spring recess… I decided to go put the player in my room and go shopping for a backpack and some supplies. Jack and I were both freshman in college, so I asked if he would like to come along. Ironhide offered to drive. His excuse was that we could secure everything in his bed. Secure what, I though tot myself. Pencils?

"That's so ugly!" I groaned at Jack. We were at Target of all places, and we were looking at pencils and pens. Jack had just picked up a pen with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles allover it. He laughed and threw it back in, to a young kid's delight, who quickly snatched it. I picked out some regular pens and pencils, and a few cute ones that were pink, had hearts, and the works. Jack laughed at all the pink in the cart I was pushing. Even though I was out of highs cool, I was enjoyed the popular image… And every little thing counts.

"Now you're going prep?" he joked. I threw him a fake hurt look. "No, I just like the hearts…" I mumbled, but I couldn't help but smile.  
Twenty minutes later we were headed out of Target with school supplies in tow.

"Why didn't you get a backpack?" he asked as we began to secure the mounds of bags into Ironhide's bed.

"For college? That's why you're a loser. I have a cute purse at home," I told him. We climbed out of the bed and the car roared to life on its own. Jack rolled his eyes at my statement. Jack and I both headed for the drivers seat.  
"I'm a man, and I drive the truck," he said playfully, "and besides… Girl's don't like trucks." but when he grabbed at the handle to open it Ironhide locked it.  
"Come on!" he yelled at the truck, and stormed to the passenger side. I giggled as the door opened by itself for me and a small family's pace quickened as they walked by, looking at the man yelling at his car.  
"Thank you love," I told Ironhide, petting the dash and I got in. He closed the door and buckled my seatbelt for me. I laughed as Jack had to open the door by himself.

Jack and I unloaded our bags and Ironhide changed into robot form. Jack headed off to his room for a nap, but I went with Ironhide back to The Hang. I scooped up the broken CD player and began to tinker with it, trying to find a way to open it. He left me to work and went over to talk to Optimus.

I had just opened the player's back up when I noticed the cord system seemed to have changed. They now seemed to be in different spots. I shrugged it off and decided it must have shifted as I had grabbed it. I slowly began to pry off the large piece of metal covering when it seemed to… move. Like it was shifting. I looked at it weird and thought my eyes were bugging out. But then I pulled on a cord to remove it the whole player changed. That's when things went berserk.

It shifted around my hand to transform into a miniature bot. It was no more than two or three feet tall, but it was sharp and edgy, silver, and blue optics. It yelled a few curses at me in Cybertronian before it jumped at me. I was sitting on my butt with my legs out and there was no way I could get up in the amount of time I had before it reached me. I let out a high-pitched scream and crossed my arm over my face to protect it.

The small transformer landed on my chest, and it took one of its knife-like fingers and slashed a deep cut in my right arm. I made the mistake of taking that hand away from my face. It made another incision on my lower cheek, just below my cheekbone. I let out another scream. They weren't deep, but they hurt like a paper cut. I could see in the background the Autobots getting up to run to my rescue, but I was to terrified to think and go to them. I just continued screaming and flailing at it. I managed to get a grip on it with my left hand, the arm that had not been cut, and pin it to the ground. I rolled on top of it and tried to punch it with my right fist. It grabbed it and with strength not proportional to its size flung me over its shoulder. My head broke my fall and I felt icy blackness grip me, and something grab my neck.

What the hell happened to my head… I felt myself think. Where am I? I let out a small groan and I felt the presence of something on me. It was big and heavy and seemed to be rubbing my stomach. Odd, I thought. It felt like metal.

"You okay, Kirst?" I heard an unfamiliar voice say. I shook my head and opened my eyes. I let out a scream as I saw a robot before me. I thrashed, trying to get away from the beast. It seemed surprised at my actions and quickly took its hand away from me, and it appeared worried. After moment I stopped, and what had just happened flashed before me. I let out another groan and lay on my belly on the ground, curling into a ball. Screw Ironhide for scarring me like that! I thought angrily.

"Uh, is something wrong?" I heard him ask in a worried voice. I managed to sit up and shake my head no.

"Are you hurt?" he drilled, and I could see Ratchet coming from the corner of my eye, with Jack quickly in tow.

"Ugh, my head feels like it was stepped on by an elephant…" He cracked a small smile.

"Jack aand Ratchet said you have a mild concussion." Ironhide informed me.

"Lay down," I heard an impatient Jack say. He lifted my right arm and began to remove a white bandage. When he unwrapped it I noticed my cut was stitched. He rubbed something that resembled Vaseline on it and went to a small bag he had brought with him to fetch a clean bandage. The cut was about four inched long. It was on the top of my arm, and ran from about where my wrist stared and ended just before where my elbow bent. He wrapped neatly and then went to my face. After he had taped a small patch onto my cheek he told me Optimus wanted to see me.

Ironhide carried me over to where the bots had gathered. Prime gave me an unsure look. I could tell exactly what he was thinking: Did this girl bring a Decepticon into our base? I knew he was wondering if I had plotted with the ex-cons and had maybe decided to give my unwanted past another go…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I wasn't expecting Optimus to be very gentle, especially because I was probable considered a threat at this point. He started our conversation by asking how I was feeling and some small talk. Realizing he couldn't put it off anymore, he asked me to explain what happened. I nodded and began to tell my story.

"I was at Radio shack with Jack and I saw this CD player. I bought it because it looked cool... When I brought it home it played for a few days then just broke. I tried to fix it but it was too confusing for me, so I decided to take it apart and maybe use some of the parts for other things. When I tried to, though, it just changed into that thing and attacked me." I said it all very slowly, making sure I got my information right. Optimus nodded. I probably sounded like a complete idiot.

"If you think I brought it here on purpose, why didn't I just stick it somewhere and not make a scene? And why would it attack me if it was on my side? That makes no sense," I explained, trying to get my head off the chopping block. After a bit more interrogation I knew I was in the clear.

"So what attacked me?" I asked curiously.

"We're not sure, it got away, but it was definitely Decepticon and designed to get into our base. Luckily it didn't stick around to see what Ironhide could do to it." Prime told me.

"If I had to guess I would say it was sent by Starscream!" Jazz offered, and Optimus shook his head a bit.

"Who?" I asked.

"Starscream was second in command, but when we fought the battle he was one of the few survivors. He agreed to join us, but he said he had some business to take care of first. He said in a couple year's time he would come to us… We have no idea where he is." Optimus said, and Jazz looked skeptic.

"Why not look for his alt mode on the streets or run his plates?" I asked.

"It's kind of hard to find an F-22 Raptor in the city," he explained. "We recently picked up his signal at a marine base near here. We think he is in the area, and we are unsure of his intentions…" Optimus trailed off.

"Let the girl sleep, she is exhausted." Ironhide came in gruffly, and quickly ordered me to bed. He drove me the small distance to our makeshift housing, and I was out as soon as I was in bed, despite the pain in my arm and cheek.

I woke up the next morning to Jack shaking me and yelling. He grabbed my ankle and pulled me out of bed.

"We're under attack! We need to go now!" He screamed at me. I ran out of my room, still wearing my pajamas… That meant some very short shorts, and a tank top. The yellow Camaro that was Bumblebee was waiting outside, doors open and honking. We barreled into the car and he took off. We drove for a few minutes in silence, not knowing what was going on. We reached a spot that was deep in a wooden area, and the other Autobots had gathered there. There didn't appear to be an emergency, they seemed to be milling around. Bumblebee opened the doors and Jack and I stepped out warily, and I looked to Optimus for answers. He crouched down to our height and smiled.

"You passed," he said. By now I was angry, having figured out that this was a false alarm.

"Passed what!" I yelled at him. I pulled my shirt up in an attempt to cover my chest more. I couldn't help but notice Jack take a quick glance at me as I did that. I stomped the ground and turned my back to him. Optimus had an un-readable look on his face as he stood up to address bumblebee.

"Three minutes and eighteen seconds. Could be faster, but well done." Optimus said, and Bee nodded. I walked away from them, and went straight to Ironhide. He was talking with Ratchet and didn't notice me until I took back my barefoot and kicked him on the leg. I recoiled and fell back on my butt, grabbing my toes. That was smart… I just kick the giant metal robot. Ouch, I thought to myself. He looked down and saw me and gave me a sympathetic look.

"It's not like Prime will let them go into battle, no mater how trained you get them. There's just no way that a six foot tall human could take on a twenty foot tall 'Con." Ratchet said, looking stubborn. Ironhide argued back.

"I'm not saying let them go into battle. I'm saying they need to be trained in case of emergency. Why do you think Prime ran this? They got out quickly. And because Jack and Kirstie both have connections to the military, I see no reason they couldn't aid in some way."

"How do you know I'm associated with the military?" I butted in. Ironhide seemed to have forgotten I was there and gave me a not-so-nice look when I spoke. I shied away from his glance; him not being ncie to me was out of character. I kept forgetting he was the rather cranky weapons specialist. He sometimes reverts back to that mode and I wasn't to keen on seeing it that often.

"Your brother-in-law was in the Marines." He stated it like it was common knowledge. "As well as your cousin and grandpa."

"Ya, and you know this because…?" I questioned. He let out some air in imitation of a human sigh,

"You told us." It was my turn to lean back my head and sigh.

Remember, you used to be with them… They must know everything about you. I checked myself with that thought.

"Kirstie," he asked, "What would you think about going into battle with the Decepticons? How would you fight them?" he asked me.

"I think I would run the hell away and try to not get stepped on," I said. He gave Ironhide a look that said, "I told you so."

"What's your brother-in-law's name?" Optimus asked as me, him, and Ironhide sat down in a small circle in the corner of The Hang.

"Tyler," I told him. Tyler and I had an interesting relationship to say the least. He used to be married to my older sister, but she went… Crazy. She quickly divorced him and went off to Germany a few years ago, claiming she met her true love. She has become a taboo subject in my house at this point.

"Does he still have his Lieutenant ranking?" He asked. I wondered why he was so interested in my brother-in-law.

"I'd assume so?" I said before dialing his number on my phone.  
"How long was he in the Marines for?" he asked. I sighed; I wasn't exactly sure. He lives on base still though, I explained to them. That was when I realized.

"What if he is living on the base where you discovered Starscream's signature?" This put cause to think in everyone's heads. Err, processors.

"I can get in with a guest pass, maybe take a look around?" I offered. Without waiting I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.

"Hey Ty! It's Kirstie!" I said into my cell phone. I clicked on speakerphone so Prime, which was next to me, and Ironhide, on my other side, could hear. I pushed my hair behind my ears and some of it fell in front of my shoulders.

"Hey hun! What's shakin'!" He said with his usual fun attitude. He was way too good to have ever been with my sister.

"Now much, how are you doin'?" We talked about our lives for a bit and I made sure he felt comfortable before I would ask him the question… Optimus gave me an impatient look. I nodded.

"Hey, listen, I need a favor," I told him. He gave a small, hearty laugh.  
"I knew it," he said. I could imagine his expression, and him, shaking his head while laughing. "Shoot," he said.

"I was wondering if I could come visit you with a few friends." 

"Friends? I don't know if I can get anyone on base but you, but I can check. Since this isn't an active base anymore, more of a boot camp training facility, I might be able to. I'll throw you a text in a bit." We finished up our conversation, and I realized quite a bit of time had gone by.

"Um, guys? Can we go home so I change now?" I asked with a blush.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Listen, I don't want you guys chatting it up… Just get in and get out quickly as possible." Ironhide told me through the radio. I laughed and I put my feet up on his dashboard. We were en route to the military base where my brother-in-law lived. Ironhide was going to take me in while Optimus and Jazz would inconspicuously stay outside, waiting for any news.

"So, what big important things do you have to do, then? It's not like you have a social life." I told him. He imitated a scoffing noise.

"I happen to find this alt mode very annoying. It makes me cramp up if I'm in it for too long," he said. I smiled a bit.

"Aaw, poor Ironhide can't sit in car form for a few hours,"

"Hey, shut it or I'll dump you on the side of this highway," he told me.

"Ya, right," I said sarcastically. At the moment we were on a deserted freeway going a steady 65. I decided to play mind games with him.

There was nothing better to do, because we were another good fifteen minutes from Ty's house.

"So… Trucks really are the slowest cars… I mean, I should have taken Bumblebee or Jazz… their alt modes are fast little sports cars…" That was all I needed to say. Ironhide revved his engine and I saw the pedal go to the floor.

"Buckle up hun," he told me. I laughed and obliged.

A few minutes later we were granted clearance into the base. We rolled near the permanent housing, which was quite nice. It was rows of picture perfect one story houses, with small garages and hangers neatly placed around it. We received a lot of looks from guards and Ironhide parked himself near house 24, Tyler's.

"Kirst!" he exclaimed, crushing my ribcage as he rushed to greet me.

"Enough! You're crushing me!" I joked, returning the hug.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked with a smile. I took a moment to study his face. His features were the opposite of mine. He had a round face with long, shaggy blonde hair. His eyes were hazel and seemed to always be bright.

"Just wanted to say hello… And check out some cool planes." I told him. He sighed.

"H op in that cute little truck of yours and follow me." He studied my truck a moment and gave it a weird look before heading to his car. I followed him and hopped into the drivers seat.

"Let me drive," I muttered to Ironhide. He turned the car on for me and I put him into drive and began to follow the Jeep. The radio turned on and Ironhide muttered lowly,

"I thought he was going to hurt you when he hugged you. I nearly jumped into my battle mode." He told me before switching off the radio. I gave a small laugh.

"What would be to your fancy today?" He asked me. Our cars were parked next to the side of a couple of large, concrete hangers.

"I really only want to look at jets," I told him. He nodded and led me to one of the larger structures.

"Where did this interest in the planes come from? You always liked to look at the tanks and stuff when you'd visit."

"A recent obsession of mine; humor me." I stated, trying to sound nonchalant.

We stepped inside and turned on some lights. Suddenly the hanger was aglow and it reflected of jets of all kinds. There were kinds I didn't even recognize. Most were US made, but some were form other countries. Some were one-seaters and others looked like they could be small private commercial craft.

" Want to see some of our new ones? They've only been here a few weeks." My ears perked up at this. Then I thought for a moment; what would I do if Starscream was actually here?

"How many jets do you have?" I asked, curious.

"We've to probable close to twenty working craft, and about eight are jets." I nodded, trying not to look like I was overly interested. The newer models were in the next hanger over he explained, so I decided to cautiously follow him; I felt a little worried by putting a few hundred yards between Ironhide and us.

We walked to the next hanger. It was probable the same size as the jet one but he told me there were only a few craft in it.

"This is where we keep the new collection," he said with a smile, raising and lowering his eyebrows at me. I giggled as we walked into the building. The lights were dim because we had not turned the lights on. I could vaguely make out the shapes of two jets. I recognized them to both me Raptors. One was an F-22 and the other was an F-16. Those models were very hard to not identify correctly. Suddenly, a voice that wasn't mine or Ty's filled the room.

"'Tis about time, mate! We're getting cramped in here!" That accent was… Australian? I looked to Ty for an answer. Before I could talk, I turned my attention back to the Raptors as Ty flipped the lights on.  
Just as light flooded the structure I got an eye-full of the two jets doing something very familiar to me: transform.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The second the two bots before me had finished their Transforming I probable had a big goofy smile on my face. I heard Ty screaming incoherent words at them. He turned to me, grabbed me by the shoulders and started yelling at me to not be afraid. He probable thought I was psychotic when I started to laugh. Since none of them seemed hostile, I decided neither could be this dangerous Starscream I'd heard about.

"Relax Ty, I'm used to transformers." I told him, still laughing. He gave me a weird look. The two robots approached me and laid down so they could be at my height. The green one with an Australian accent started to talk to me.

"G'day Sheila, sorry if we scared you… I'm Jetfire!" he beamed at me. I giggled a bit.

"Kirstie," I told him. When he extended his right hand to me I took one of his fingers and shook his hand. He nodded his head at the previous F-22 Raptor next to him.

"This is Starscream." He finished. I froze. I could hear an engine outside-Ironhide's. I prayed he wouldn't blow his cover and rush in here. I tried to play it off as no big deal; we finished our greetings and I told Ty, Jetfire, and Starscream my story.

"You're with Optimus!" Jetfire exclaimed. I nodded. "Crikey… We've been meaning to go to him for a while now…"

"Kirst, I can't believe you know them… How did you join the team?" Then I was forced to tell them the little bits of knowledge I had of my resurrection. I turned to Jetfire and Starscream.

"I am an Autobot now." Starscream grounded out in a quick manner. I flat out laughed, realizing he was bluffing to probably save his butt. I found myself not as scared as I probably should have been.

"You two knew you were supposed to rendezvous with Optimus years ago," I accused. They both nodded. Finally Starscream spoke again. His voice was high and very metallic. I almost laughed at how 'girly' it sounded.

"Can we please get to base?" he pleaded. I glanced at Ty who was silent; clearly the fact that I knew what was going on was freaking him out.

"Explain," I demanded of him.

"I'm the only one here who knows… They showed up a few years ago and never left." I turned back to the metal beasts infront of me.

"Why did we just pick up your signatures recently then?" Starscream scoffed at me.

"It's hard to keep a strong beacon like that from being detected for a few earth months, let alone years. We couldn't do it anymore and we slipped up."

My face was unmoving… And suddenly pissed. "Explain," I snarled one more time, this time at Starscream. He decided to give me some form of information.

"Before… Well, everything, you and I were acquaintances."

Jetfire cut in. "Good friends is more like it, despite Starscream's normally 'take-over-everything' attitude."

"Why are all you 'bad guys' joining the good cause? It makes you seem like pathetic pussies." I spat at them.

"Our leader was killed in the battle over the Allspark. With nothing else to fight for and no leadership, most of the Decepticons chose life instead of extermination by being hunted down one by one." Jetfire explained with a sideways grin. How could he find humor in something like this?

"Let's go to base." I said, deciding I had had enough.

"I'm going to miss you guys… I obviously have to remain here." They barely even said good bye before the two were back to jets. They projected a holoform and taxied themselves out.

"We have a comm. link with Ironhide; we'll see you at base."

And just like that, I was alone in the bunked with Ty. He gave me a curt nod and left… I realized I had just ripped away two of the coolest things he had ever seen. And I didn't even feel bad.

"I gave them our base's coordinates over a comm. link and alerted Optimus." Ironhide told me as we began to exit the base. I nodded and sat in silence until we had cleared the perimeter and were on the road heading home.

"Something bothering you, Kirst?" Ironhide asked me gently through the radio. I swallowed.

"Fine." I told him. He obviously didn't believe me but he started some small talk with me. I really didn't know what was bothering me… I decided it was all the action.

"Well cheer up. We're almost at the Hang," he said.

We pulled into base shortly after and I was quickly swept into a blur of greetings and a lot of giant robot… stuff. I couldn't follow any of their conversations. Jack and I sat secluded until it reached a late hour.

"Bed?" he asked simply. I nodded.

"Before I could leave, Ironhide scooped me up and brought me to his face.

"Sleep well, 'kay?" I gave him a confused look as he set me down. What had Ironhide all jumpy lately? And why were the jets not at base yet? Something was defiantly not right. My fears were assured as Bonecrusher gave me a look as I walked towards our small 'house.' His face was burned into my head all night: Those red eyes giving me a look that pierced me soul and showed anger and hate.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I woke up early to Jack knocked on my door. While getting out of my warm bed I told him to come in. I probable looked horrible… I was wearing my "pajamas," which was next to nothing, and on the ground trying to grab my hairbrush, which I had just dropped. I smiled and got up.

"Get ready, in an hour I thought we could take them to the playground." I squealed in excitement. It was in the woods not far from here, and we used to go there as a kid. It used to be a summer camp, but as more wealthy people moved in it closed down; they sent their kids to foreign countries, not lakes and camps. It had a pool and other random shit.

"I thought there'd be some fun stuff for our giant alien robot friends to do there." He beamed. I made an excited squeal before rushing him out of my room to get ready.

"-and there's this lake, and this big field that we used to play tag in, and-"

"Jesus, take a breath!" Ironhide yelled at me. I was sitting in his passenger seat as we drove to a lake in the wooded area not far from base. He made a small grunting laugh as I inhaled a deep breath.

We spent most of the day lounging around. We also had a nice long swim and Ratchet enjoyed observing how long we could hold our breath under the water. It was nearing five o'clock in the afternoon and we were getting ready to go home. I found it was a good time to get to know our two newest additions. By the end of the day I found the humorous Jetfire to my liking, and found why I had enjoyed Starscream… At least when he was calm. If he got any other emotion it was annoying as hell to listen to him ramble in his squeaky voice. When I told him to shut up and that he was making my ears bleed, he jumped up and started yelling for Ratchet. That was an interesting explanation of certain human expressions.

Throughout the whole day Bonecrusher and Blackout remained mysterious. Ironhide wouldn't leave my side. He would tail me all around. 'Crusher and Blackout had gone off about half way through the day on their own. We hadn't seen them since. They sent in a message, though. They were going to meet us at base later. We were all packed and ready to leave when I remembered I forgot my purse. It was behind the cabins, near where the pool was. I told them I would hurry and get it. The problem was it took me forever to get over there. After a while I reached it, huffing and puffing, when I heard a noise behind me. I let out a startled yell, but I turned to see Ironhide. I smiled at him. I was extremely jumpy…

"You scared me…" I mumbled, picking up my purse. He nodded and looked around nervously.  
"Let's go." He said, sternly.  
"One sec, lemme just-"  
"Now." I turned to see Ironhide with a stern look on his face. I cocked my head at him.

"It's not safe. We-GET DOWN!" Ironhide yelled at me. He readied his cannons mounted on his wrists, and aimed at something behind me. I heard several yelling noises and loud bangs. I crouched with my hands over my neck and head with my eyes tightly shut. After a moment I opened them to see Bonecrusher flying into the pool and Blackout taking a swing at Ironhide.

"IRONHIDE!" I screeched, trying to run to him. Bonecrusher grabbed me though, and all the breath in my body went out when his fingers took a good, solid grip around my ribcage. When I got my vision back Blackout was sprawled on the ground, with Ironhide over him, ready to shoot at any second. Bonecrusher spoke.

"Ironhide, step away from Blackout or your pet gets it." His voice sent shills down my spine and I shivered, suddenly cold. He let out a hoarse laugh and gave me a small squeeze.

"You like that?" He asked, bringing me close to his face and those horrible red eyes. I squirmed to get free.

"Release her," Ironhide said, doing as he was told. Blackout didn't try to get up. Bonecrusher made a small 'hmm' noise.

"I've got an idea." He said with a disgusting twisted smile.

Five minutes later we were before all the Autobots. By now I was loosing circulation and I wasn't feeling too well. I was out of it and constantly shaking my head to keep consciousness. I vaguely remember an argument between Optimus and my captor. The next thing I new I was falling into nothingness.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

When I finally woke up I could feel my whole body in pain. At least my cheek and arm has healed, I thought somewhat groggily. I opened my eyes and found I was lying safely back in the corner of our base. Most of the Autobots were in the center of the room, discussing something…

No, arguing over something. I let out a small moan as I tried to move. My ankle was pulsing with waves of pain especially. Their yells suddenly stopped as Jack alerted them of my condition. Jack came over to me, and he carried me over to the machines and laid me on the ground.

"I'm fine…. What happened?" I asked deliriously.

"Well, after Bonecrusher picked you up, he climbed out of the pool… Then when he got angered he dropped you flat onto the ground. You fell quite a ways. I'm surprised you didn't break your back…" He muttered.

"So what injuries did I get?" I prodded. Besides a migraine, I felt ok… I didn't want to seem like a weak idiot either.

"Concussion, a few bumps and bruises, and you sprained your right ankle. It should heal in a bit." Ah, I thought, that's why my ankle hurts like hell. When I looked away from Jack huddled over me I saw all of the bots looked at me intently. I noticed Barricade was sitting between Optimus and Starscream, looking very uncomfortable. With what little brainpower I had I decided he hadn't been a part of the plan and was now under suspicion of the Autobots.

"How are you feeling?" Optimus asked calmly.

"Fine," I lied. They saw through it, though. I decided I didn't want to go around and around with the crap they were going to feed me.

"Why did he want to talk to you? And why did he drop me?"

They were silent for a moment before Prime explained. "He wants to resurrect Megatron, and wanted the location of an Allspark sliver to do so. It is under your government's protection, and if the Decepticons knew of its location, they would destroy many lives."

Just great, I thought. They obviously hadn't given into his demands. They had decided I was disposable… And I made the mistake of voicing this thought to them. They instantly were arguing again. Ah, I had hit the nerve… and discovered what they had been arguing about. Whether they should have given into him to save me, or sacrifice me.

I now realized the circle was not a circle, but two sides… To my right was Ironhide, Bumblebee, Starscream and Jetfire. They were the ones who were upset Prime had done nothing. I was surprised to see Starscream on that side, but I remembered I had been told we were good friends before everything that had happened.

The opposing side was Optimus, Ratchet, Barricade, and Jazz. I knew the only reason Jazz was over there was the fact he was the second in command.

"I don't see how you could just throw her life away-you always say we're here to help the humans!" Ironhide snarled at Optimus.

"If the Decepticons got the garment, Earth would be in danger of being destroyed. Again." He said calmly. I could understand his reasoning.

"Relax, guys, I-" I began and tried to stand up. As soon as I was up my leg gave out and I could feel myself starting to pass out from the sudden rush of blood. It was something I was going to have to get used to, I guess.

The next time I woke up I was alone in my room. I was very upset with the turn of events. I made sure I was okay to walk before I stumbled out of bed. I had a small wrap around my ankle which helped; it wasn't too bad. It was very hard to get down the stairs of the small house, thoguh. I went to the kitchen and woofed down a pop tart before stumbling into the bathroom for a shower and to change. Within an hour I was ready to make the small walk to The Hang and confront everyone.

As I stumbled clumsily out the door I stopped as I saw Ironhide standing very near the door. He perked up as he saw me.

"I decided to wait here for you to come out so I could, you know, check on you." I suddenly realized he could have been there for days, depending on how long I had been out for. I smiled and thanked him as he carefully ushered me onto his hand. We began to head for the main hanger.

"It's not a nice scene in there," he warned. I nodded as he opened the doors like it was nothing. Inside it was loud and made my head throb.

There were a few bots arguing still over the recent events, shouting inangry voices. Ironhide made the sound of his throat clearing and everyone hushed. He took me casually over to where we normally hang out. He set me down carefully next to him. I leaned my head against his leg and sighed. I didn't know how I was feeling right now or how I should feel. He finally broke the silence.

"We, uh, had a team go out. We tracked them down and they won't be bothering you anymore." I decided that that was a nice way to say they had ben turned off line. I found it interesting that I had known what that even meant… I had decided I was beginning to get back some memory. I nodded, and I felt relief go over me.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Most of the Autobots came over to ask how I was feeling, and I, of course, lied. The only ones who didn't come over were Optimus, Barricade, and Starscream.

The next day started the same, only outside my door, to my disgust, was Barricade. He smiled at me, almost nicely.

"I'm here to pick you up," he said simply. School was starting up again in a few days, and I decided it could be related to that. I nodded and hopped into his hand.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

As soon as I was in Barricade's hand he began to walk away from The Hang.

"Umm… Where are we going?" I asked, now getting worried.

"Get in." He placed me on the ground and changed into his police car form. I shook my head, now getting scared. He had walked a ways away from the base-if I screamed or tried to run for it he would catch me before any Autobot could run to my rescue.

"I'm not taking you to the Decepticons, trust me. We need to talk about your past." I sighed and decided I had no chance of getting away, and that he had never done anything to hurt me before, or at least that I knew of. I decided I could trust him and got into the passengers side slowly, careful of my ankle. As soon as I was in he took off and buckled my seatbelt. We drove for almost ten minutes in silence.

"Where are we going?" I asked suddenly.

"You'll see." He replied in a monotone voice. We drove for almost an hour before we arrived at a large abandoned warehouse. I was nodding in and out of sleep… I was still tired from the events. I was surprisingly comfortable in his cab.

I got out of the car slowly and looked for a root of escape incase things went bad. There was nothing for miles around… This could turn out very badly.

"Don't worry, I told you, I would never let you get hurt. I'm not one of them." He said. I was actually reassured by his voice. We walked into the warehouse and sat down, almost casually… Like we were old friends going to catch up.

"The others don't know that I've brought you here, so when they find us Optimus will be very, how do you humans say… pissed off." I nodded slowly, knowing he would probable flip out completely when he found us.

"But I decided you deserve to know what happened all those years ago. When you were a Decepticon." I leaned back and crossed me legs, knowing this was going to be a long explanation.

"About two years ago you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was when he had first all arrived on earth, searching for the Allspark. The Autobots and Decepticons were fighting an intense battle, and you were almost killed in the crossfire. Megatron was going to kill you, when you begged for your life and told him about all of your military connections and experience. He decided you could be of use to us. Your sister had bailed, and it was as easy as pretending to go with her that allowed you free reign at such a young age. We took you back to base and for two years you worked for us." He took a small pause, and I nodded, showing I understood.

"You were very valuable. Who would suspect a fourteen or fifteen eyar old kid of being a spy?" He stopped and I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. I actually found him to be quite… I didn't know the word, but I was liking him more and more.

"You could walk the streets and get knowledge we would have had no other way of getting. Then when you had been with us almost three years, Megatron wanted you to kill some people and do some things that you found rather disturbing. He threatened to kill you and mistreated you for not doing what he wanted. While on a mission you ran off and by pure luck ran into Jazz… They only had you for about a year until the Decepticons attacked the Autobots." He looked grim at this point. There was a lot more to the entire story, but I was glad to be getting just the condensed version.

"Starscream and I were very hesitant to even attack, as the Decepticon ranks were falling apart, and loosing was more probable than winning. Before the battle we spoke to the Autobots before hand about what was coming. They believed us when we said we wanted in on their side. In the battle we turned on our fellow cons…"

He trailed off, lost in thought. I was still reeling from the fact that before I was even seventeen I was been a spy and tolerated such behavior. Could I have actually hurt, even killed people?

"Unfortunately for you, both Optimus Prime and Megatron wanted you on their side, and you were killed in the struggle." I could see some pain on his face.

"So, was I friends with the Decepticons?" I asked.

"Yes," he nodded, "You, Starscream, and myself were especially close," he said fondly.

"You were also friends with all the other 'Cons. The only ones who never seemed to like you were Blackout and Bonecrusher. I think it's because Megatron liked you and started using you for things they might have been used for… You took away from their glory."

I nodded simply, understanding. I had been friends with those monsters.

"Ratchet had some technology he thought might help revive you. Your body hadn't physically been hurt; you had been suffocated… Megatron held you too tight." His voice was very constricted at this point."

"The machine Ratchet used on you simply restarted your heart and body, allowing your lungs to function. It wasn't some miracle of science… It might have even been possible in a human hospital."

I knew people who had drowned had been brought back to life, so I decided this wasn't too far fetched… No more than giant transforming robots, atleast.

"Unfortunately," he continued, "you suffered some minor brain damage, and about four years of your life was whipped from your memory."

"When did this happen?" I asked.

"Last year," he responded. If it had been almost a whole year, why hadn't anyone told this until now? Barricade seemed to see this confusion and responded.

"You were given a large chunk of time to resettle into your life, and make sure you were alright…" He trailed off quietly.

"OK…Wow. So why were Starscream and Jetfire with Ty?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I guess instead of facing the music with the Autobots they decided to chill with Ty for a while." I smiled a bit at the casual slang he used with me.

"OK, any more questions?" he inquired.

"Ya… Why did Bonecrusher call me Ano?"

"That was your 'codename.' We called you Ano on missions, so no one would find out your real name."

Time to digest this… I thought.

It was an hour later and we were driving back to base.

"Well, this is it…" he grumbled, and I heard the communicator connect with the Autobots. The first person I heard was Ironhide, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Where the hell are you! If you have so much as touched her, I'll fuc-"

"Optimus?" 'Cade butted in calmly. "Can we open a private channel?" Suddenly it was just Optimus on the other end.

"Head to base now." He said, sounding rather stressed.

"En route," he responded.

"Where the hell did you take her?" he asked. I had never heard Prime swear before… Not that hell was even a swear word.

"To tell her about her past, Prime. I did not hurt her. You can ask her. All I did was explain to her the truth." He was very blunt, and short sentenced.

"You told her everything?" He questioned.

"Yes."

Silence.

"Is this true Kirstie?"

"Mhm…" I muttered, suddenly very tired and somewhat afraid.

As soon as we pulled into the base, all the bots were standing in robot form. I got out of the car and Barricade transformed. I smiled and waved weakly to show I was okay. Obviously, Optimus had explained everything to the rest of them, because no one was trying to flat out kill him. Ironhide approached, giving Barricade a horrible look. He picked me up in his hand and we headed out of The Hang.

"Optimus is going to discuss the recent events with that Decepticon. I decided I don't want to stay because I would probably blow his damn head off…" I could see the anger in his face, and his other hand was clenched tightly into a fist. Good thing he had control with me.

"I'm fine, really. We just had a talk. He told me it was okay, so I went-"  
"But what if he hadn't just wanted to talk!" he roared at me. "What if he had wanted to hurt you!" I could see him trying to calm himself.

"Want to go for a drive?" I asked. After almost an hour of driving I got tired and fell asleep in the back seat of my favorite black GMC Topkick.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

When I woke I had no idea where I was for a second, before I recognized Ironhide's interior. I yawned and stretched, and he turned off the soft music playing to reveal his voice.

"How are you feeling?"

"A bit better… Where are we?" I picked myself up and unsteadily got into the passenger side and buckled the seatbelt for myself. The clock on the dash told me it was almost three thirty… in the morning.

"You wanted to go for a drive, so we're driving. I think we're in… Nevada somewhere?" I suddenly woke up.

"You've been driving all this time! Go back to Cali now!" I screamed.

Without warning he jerked left and we were on the other side of the road, heading at an easy 90 mph. I sighed and put my fingers to the bridge of my nose, rubbing. Damn, my head hurt.

"What happened with Barricade?"

"Nothing…Optimus decided he was okay and the other 'bots are cool with what he did." It was easy to hear the frustration in his voice. It was incredible how much Ironhide actually cared… He was the first person in a long time. I looked out the window and I could see nothing but flat, bare land, barely visible through the darkness. I sighed heavily and leaned my head against the freezing window.

"I know you're going to be bummed, but your spring break is over the day after tomorrow…"

"What day is it!" I cried, unhappy.

"Saturday… You go back Monday. And there's no way in hell anyone else is driving you but me." I smiled a bit at his protectiveness. I decided to lighten his mood a bit.

"Aaw, so I've got to drive the piece of shit truck to school from now on? I would look really cool in a sports car, like a Solstice or Camaro…"

"Ouch, my ego... Easy on the insults." I just laughed at his tone and shook my head.

"We're a couple hours from base… Why don't you sleep."

"Not tired."

"Ratchet said with all the injuries, and concussions, you're be abnormally tired for a while… "After he said that I realized I was in fact dead tired. I started to drift of and before I knew it I was sleeping dreamlessly. Why was I so tired lately?

The next two days flew by, with some preparation for school and cramming of some studying and projects. I only have college classes three days a week, thank God you can pick your schedule in college. I took classes most of the day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

It was 9:30 am and I was walking to the hang. I went from 10 to 2, and I was excited by the freedom I had. At least it wasn't high school.

I knew I had to look freaking amazing because of the car I was driving. Don't get me wrong, I love Ironhide to death, but it's not the car the kind of girl I am would drive. I normally showed up in a Mustang, BMW, Lamborghini… Not a truck. Oh well. I'll work it… I was wearing the shortest shorts I could find, and some very high heels. My hair was down and straitened to perfection. My long, brown hair was the softest it had been in a while, and I was glad I had taken the time to do make up. Reclaim my image…

Finally! You took forever." Ironhide said as I walked out of the Hang, ready to get to class. He quickly changed into his Topkick form. I just smiled and laughed as he revved the engine and opened the door. I frowned slightly when Jack did the flirt whistle at me before getting into Bumblebee… Wow I was going to look stupid driving this truck in next to him. I grumbled under my breath as I got in and started the car.

It was half an hour later and I had parked Ironhide and gotten out without anyone of importance seeing me. I knew the clique I controlled would be disgusted by the car I had driven to school. Ah, yes, my 'friends.' I'll tell you about them all in a nutshell: Me and four girls pretty much think we're the shit and the best. Well I don't, they do. It's retarded, I know. There's Chantal, Jessica, Courtney, and Amber. All tall, model status, blonde, the works.

"And he was totally like, what ever! I just like, ya know, left him there." Me and my friends all laughed enthusiastically at my friend's story. I didn't follow, though. She sounded like a moron. I was thinking about what they would say about my car. All I got was this guy asked her out and she had humiliated him by saying no… or something like that.

"I'm in west lot guys, so I'll catch up later. Tomorrow after school we're sooo going to that new ice cream place. I hear a hot guy works there!" Ugh, I thought, I hate talking like this. I thought I was free until Amber told me to 'wait up, girlfriend.'

"I need a ride home love, I caught one here from that ugly chick, what's her name, Sarah or something, but I couldn't find her after school." Great, just what I need.

"I would, but I'm going off-roading today with my dad… Gross, I know" I said, trying to sound disgusted. Amber just laughed her fake laugh.

"No worries, just drop me off quick." Damn…I knew there was no way out of it. So, we walked to the west lot, where Ironhide was waiting. I knew Ironhide was going to be upset with me, but I needed these girls to keep looking up to me, or else I would have no friends. The normal girls I would normally have been friends with hated me now because of my mean behavior to them, and all the other 'popular' girls hated me even more because of my behavior towards them, which usually involved a lot of gossip and dumb stuff like that.

"Here's the piece of shit," I said, pulling off a disgusted look. I shoved the key into the driver's side lock and opened it. I struggled to get in, because Ironhide was so huge. I unlocked Amber's side and she managed to get up somehow, also.

"Eew, I think I'm getting diseases from it. Oh my God, look at the dirt in here! You had better get rid of this car fast, or people will start talking." I agreed with her and we drove off. It was only five minutes to walk to Amber's house, and two to drive, but she always said she couldn't be seen walking. Poor people do that, not her. I agreed but inside all I could think was: Wow. Pathetic. As soon as I dropped Amber off I sped a bit on the way to The Hang, which was at least a fifteen-minute drive. We drove in silence together for some time. I listened to the radio to pass the time.

Up ahead I could see the dirt road I turn off to get to the base. From there it was about a ten-minute drive. At least twice that walking.

"How's your ankle?" he asked.

"Fine, I just wrapped it in a small ace bandage, and it gave me no trouble."

"So you had no problem walking?"

"None at all," I said proudly. Suddenly the car was not in my control. Ironhide jerked to a stop and pulled to the side of the road, opening my door.

"Then get out. You can walk." I was completely stunned.

"'Hide, you know I had to say those things because that girl is intolerable, I-"

"Why would you want to be seen in a like piece of shit truck like me?" I knew I had hit a nerve, and felt bad. I knew if I begged he would drive me home, but in my shame I got out. He seemed kind of surprised. I took of my heels and began walking. My cell phone was in my pocket and rubbing against me painfully, so I took it out and stuffed it into my shoe. Ironhide stayed parked for a moment before speeding off down the highway.

I walked for nearly half an hour before I could see The Hang. I knew I was another ten minutes from it. I sighed and kept on trudging. The whole way I tried to think of a way to apologize, and when I finally got a good one, I heard a loud booming sound. I instantly turned my head to my left to see what it was. My eyes widened at what I saw. There was a giant tank hauling ass towards me.

I dropped my shoes and began to sprint towards the base, screaming. I knew the tank: It was Devastator. I jumped as I thought his name. Maybe I was getting some more memory back. After a few moments I could see him transform out of my peripheral vision into his robot form. I put my head down and kept running. I felt myself being lifted, and throw into the air. I could hear Devastator transforming near me. He must have been skilled, because the next thing I knew I was sitting in a tank. I took a moment to think, wow, he just transformed and I ended up in his cab-he must have some talent, before I realized I was being kidnapped.

I went to grab my phone from my pocket before I realized I had put it in my shoe. Suddenly I could feel the full chest restraints go around me, locking me into the seat.

"Hello, Kirstie. Please don't be mad… I didn't want to do this to you. It's Megatron…" I could hear some sadness in his voice.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

-At the Autobot base, Ironhide's point of view-

I transformed back into my real form as I opened the doors into The Hang. I thought it was a stupid name, but because Kirstie liked it I decided to let it go. The whole time I was driving to base I couldn't help but think if leaving her was the right thing to do. Now that I had had time to think, I decided I felt really bad about what I had done. I couldn't believe I had actually dumped her on the side of the road like that. I decided when she got home I would apologize for my behavior. I knew she only said those things because of her friend. I knew I was in for some serious yelling from most of the bots.

"Where's Kirstie?" Jazz was the first to ask. I decided not to lie, because every time I did it always came back to get me.

"We got in a fight and she decided to walk home from the dirt road."

Well, that's only half lying.

"And you let her! God Ironhide you need to get some brains."

"Shut it pipsqueak, what would you know about brains?" While Jazz and I were fuming we didn't notice Optimus Prime approach.

"Easy you two. I'm sure she'll be home within the hour."

An hour came and went. Then two. Then I started to get worried. I announced I was going to go look for her, and Jazz told me he was coming. Although Jazz and I fight a lot, we really were good friends. Sometimes.

We only drove for about five minutes before we spotted her shoes on the side of the road. We both pulled over and transformed. You could see footprints in the dirt, showing that she had been running. The most disturbing was the tank treads in the dirt, which changed to giant robot feet, then back into treads.

"Devastator…" Jazz muttered. We both shared a long, worried glance before contacting base. Kirstie had been kidnapped.

-Kirstie's POV-

Devastator had been driving me for nearly an hour, and I couldn't see out of his cab, so I had no idea where we were going. Once or twice he tried to talk to me, but I wasn't giving him anything. I finally decided this was going to be our last chance alone, so I decided to give him something to discuss.

"So, we were, like… friends?" I asked slowly, now knowing how to put it.

"Yes, we were. It's really a shame you don't remember. We were actually good friends. Now you'll always just remember me for stealing you." I nodded a bit, realizing he was right.

"How's that big weapon guy, ah, what's his name… He gave me a good hole through my shoulder once."

"Ironhide?" I questioned slowly… I decided not to give them anything on the Autobots, incase they planned on using that against us.

"I believe that's his name." He tried to talk to me again after that, but I wasn't in the mood for chatting it up with someone who could be taking me to a second death. I knew the Autobots were looking for me by now, and I just hoped they might know where we were heading.

I was overcome with the eerie fact that I was beginning to remember some things. I had a flash back of me and Devastator running through a long hallway, just screwing around like good friends… And it scared me. I think I wasn't afraid because I knew the Decepticons wouldn't hurt me… because I had been one of them.

Another hour of driving. Wow I was getting bored. I don't know why, but I was thinking about how good some McDonalds fries sounded and how much Amber would bitch me out for eating them, when I suddenly felt the earth shake. I decided it could have been one of many things, so I ignored it. Until I heard Devastator yell at me. I saw the top hatch open up and a ladder descend.

"Get out!" He yelled at me, sounding mighty ferocious. I did as he said. As soon as I was out he transformed, and grabbed me. I found myself once again with a Deception's hand around my middle, crushing me. And right in front of us was Optimus Prime and Ironhide.

Why only these two? I thought to myself.

"Let her go, Devastator." Optimus said. Déjà vu, I thought to myself.

"I don't want to hurt her, Prime." Devastator said carefully.

"Then don't. We can talk this out. There's no need to start killing." I twisted to see a wicked smile on Devastator's face as he spoke. He had lied to me, just like everyone else. Or did he really care and now he was bluffing?

"But where's the fun in that?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I couldn't believe the situation I had gotten myself into – again. I was really getting tired of literally being held hostage. I scanned Ironhide and Optimus Prime's face to see if I could see anything, but I didn't. I remembered how last time Optimus almost let me die… I wondered if he would do the same thing now. I also wondered how Ironhide would react.

"Here's the deal, just like last time. I will finish what Bonecrusher started. We just want the location to the shard of the Allspark." I shuddered a bit as he said that. I had a feeling history would repeat itself. I decided to try some emotion with the monster. Devastator seemed to notice me looked up towards him, so he made eye contact with me with his horrifying red optics.

"Please don't do this, please…" At least those years of acting lessons were finally paying off. My mom always had dreams of me being a famous actor or model. Bleh. I knew how to cry on cue and I was managing to make myself look pretty pathetic. He gave me a long look before shaking his head slightly and turning to look back at Optimus.

"Your answer?" He questioned devilishly. Optimus remained absolutely silent. Finally his lips parted, and he spewed something out in robotic gibberish.

"Cross checking with Soundwave." He stated, and he seemed to focus on an invisible point for a moment.

"Let her go." Optimus repeated simply. His voice was deep, commanding, and gentle. I was quite surprised at their lack of emotion in this transaction.

Suddenly, I was placed to the ground in the manner one would put a small pet in a box… Being careful to not cause harm. The robots from Cybertron must have had some form of honor or code, because Devastator quickly began to roll away as a giant tank.

The second I was on the ground I ran to Ironhide. I grabbed his foot and hugged it, now truly sobbing with emotion.

"I'm so sorry," I managed. He never turned his eyes towards me as he said unemotionally, "Get behind me."

"Isn't the danger over?" I asked in a mouse voice. He ignored me as Optimus and Ironhide spoke. He suddenly seemed to sit down, and the Topkick appeared before me, passenger door open.

"I apologize for my behavior earlier. Leaving you like that was a horrible thing to do. This whole mess could have been avoided if-"

"No, I'm sorry!" I yelled at him, trying not to cry. "I shouldn't have said those things. You know what I really think about you, I wouldn't want anyone else driving me-"

So for the next hour we argued over who was more sorry, and childish things like that. We finally agreed we were both wrong and sorry. It took a lot of time to get to that conclusion.

"You didn't really give him the location, did you guys?" I asked in a small voice. He scoffed.

"Soundwave would be able to identify the location we gave from space by observing that there is indeed a reading of Allspark energy there, but it is long gone. It is moved to a different location on a monthly basis, so they will find an empty security building. "

"I'm too overwhelmed to find flaw or argue with that logic." I stated.

"I don't mean to judge, but your friend Amber is a bitch." I laughed at his blunt analysis.

"She is, I know first hand. Luckily I'm on her like list, not her hate list… If I was her enemy I would force my parents to home school me." He gave a small chuckle through the radio. He paused for a moment before continuing.

"You know, your school starts in four hours… I don't think you should go, because of everything that has happened." I sighed heavily, upset by his statement.

"I have to go, if I miss my mom will get suspicious. I'm staying at Chantal's house, remember?" I said with a giggle. It was truly amazing how stupid my parents were. My mom was a beautiful gold digger, ten years younger than my dad. Since my dad was always doing business, my mom ruled the house. She thought it was so lavish to go to Hawaii, stay at friends houses, and never be home.

We were just approaching the base and I knew I was going to run for a whole day on only a few hours sleep. I made a sound of disgust.

"Jazz offered to drive you tomorrow," Ironhide told me as he transformed into his robot self. I indicated I wanted him to pick me up and place me on his shoulder. Once I was up I told him I wanted him to drive me, but he shook his head no. Optimus, Ratchet and I are going out looking for the Decepticon base… There's only a few of those 'Cons on earth and the three of us should be enough to take them down." I was instantly worried.

"If you find it," I said. He nodded with a small chuckle.

"If we find it," he repeated. "Sleep well. Don't worry about looking extra good, you'll be driving a sports car in tomorrow." I gave a small laugh, knowing Jazz was going to be an instant reputation boost.

I slept for three hours before I took a shower. I threw my hair up and did some light mascara, and was glad to see I looked good. I looked like I was going natural. I groaned as I walked from the small house to the giant building in which the robots stayed. It was barely a thirty second walk, but it was hard on my muscles. When I walked in Jazz and Bumblebee were already a Solstice and Camaro, with Barricade working on something in the corner. Barricade blatantly was ignoring me over the past weeks, and he continued now. I felt hurt as I turned to the sports vehicles.

When I got into Jazz he blasted some rap music and I rolled the windows down to look cool. Even though it wasn't that bright, I put on my giant sunglasses. I could hear his voice coming from the radio, laughing at me.

"I heard you're going somewhere after school with your friends, so convince them to take your hot new Solstice. I gotta keep an eye on you." I just laughed and agreed.

As soon as I sat down in my first class, I knew it was going to be a long day. With three of my friends out looking for trouble I knew the whole day I was going to be worried. In the back of my mind I was constantly on edge-wondering if Megatron was going to be brought back.


End file.
